During construction of a multi-story building, it is known to install a sprinkler system for fire protection. A specially designed large volume stand pipe specifically for the sprinkler system runs vertically from the basement of the building up to and through the various floors of the building. The bottom of the stand pipe is connected to an output of a building water pump specifically designed for the sprinkler system. An input of the pump is connected to a water supply pipe to the building. On the various floors, the sprinkler system stand pipe connects through a pipe branching out from the stand pipe to the ceiling sprinkler pipe which has a plurality of sprinkler heads installed thereto.
The building water pump must have sufficient pumping capacity to meet the local building code flow rate requirements—for example at least 22 gallons per minute per sprinkler head for a residential building. Depending on the number of sprinkler heads in the building, the pump and the stand pipe must have sufficient capacity to meet the building code pumping requirement per individual sprinkler head.
In very high buildings, it is also known to provide in addition to a single pump such as in the basement, additional booster pumps in series along the stand pipe at various intervals.
In non-sprinklered buildings, it is known to provide a stand pipe extending vertically through the multi-floor building and providing on each floor a so-called “houseline”—that is an individual fire hose outlet connectable or connected to a fire hose. The previously described booster pumps may also be employed in such a stand pipe with line outlets.
It is also known that in non-sprinklered multi-story buildings, particularly older residential buildings, no water flow type fire protection system at all is provided—that is no stand pipes, no house lines, and no sprinkling systems. In these buildings, all that exists is a domestic water supply pipe extending to the various floors of the building to supply domestic water to restrooms, sinks, or water fountains, for example.
It is very expensive to convert a non-sprinklered building to a sprinklered building after the building has been constructed. A large pump must first be installed such as in the basement of the building, along with a high volume high pressure stand pipe extending up through the various floors. This stand pipe must then be connected by branch-off pipes to the ceiling sprinkler pipes being installed on each floor. This is particularly true in non-sprinklered residential buildings where no stand pipe exists but only the low pressure domestic water pipe. Modification of such buildings is very expensive.